Coconut Cake

Another dinner party. Another cake. A light, fluffy coconut cake with chocolate buttercream and a chocolate ganache filling. The coconut cake is one of my Mom’s favorite recipes, and the one and only time I attempted to bake this particular cake, prior to this, resulted in one of my most memorable baking disasters. My family has yet to let me forget it. It was meant to be my sister’s Birthday cake, and while it looked fine on the outside the moment we bit into it you could immediately tell that something had gone drastically wrong. The cake had the consistency of sawdust, tasted even worse, and it was pretty clear exactly what I had done wrong from the first bite. For as long as I can remember I have associated baking soda with a rectangular box and baking powder with a cylindrical can, so when I reached into the cupboard to grab the baking powder, I simply pulled out and used the cylindrical can without reading the label. Unfortunately, the can had been full of baking soda. They had started selling baking soda in cylindrical cans. Who knew?!? From that point forward I have become an avid label reader. It just takes one big mistake.

I figured that it was about time for me to step up and brave this recipe again. This time I was successful.

My brother, by the way, saved the day. He ran down to the store, bought a Funfettie cake mix, and proceeded, with little effort, to produce a perfectly edible cake. When I pointed out that using a mix was cheating, he aptly responded “Well, at least this cake is edible.”